Suspect in nurse's murder goes to court, husband's blog offers insight into group

The suspect in a bizarre murder case involving sex and religion was in court for the first time.

Tuesday, the Jackson County prosecutor shed some light on a few questions surrounding the case as the media got the first look at the accused killer.

Micah Moore, 23, walked into a Jackson County courtroom Tuesday to be charged with murder. Four days earlier he walked into the Grandview Police Department and told investigators he killed his roommate, 27-year-old Bethany Deaton.

If Moore had not come forward, chances are the bizarre plot of murder, sex and religion would have died with her. Bethany Deaton's case was ruled a suicide when her body was found near Longview Lake Oct. 30 with a suicide note beside her.

"This was a horrible, horrible crime. A young woman lost her life. She lost her life in a very violent way," Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said.

According to Moore's statement to police, he killed Bethany Deaton to cover up a series of sexual assaults done to her by himself and other male roommates, including her husband, Tyler Deaton. Moore said the sexual assaults were all part of a "religious experience" and that Tyler Deaton was the leader of the religious community. Read More

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With the purpose of writing about true crime in an authoritative, fact-based manner, veteran journalists J. J. Maloney and J. Patrick O’Connor launched Crime Magazine in November of 1998. Their goal was to cover all aspects of true crime: Read More